Image forming apparatus and method converting component data of printing colors to data with special color added based on user-specified condition

ABSTRACT

Certain embodiments provide an image forming apparatus, including: an image forming part to form an image made of plural pixels by using plural printing colors and a special color different from the plural printing colors; an input part of image data of the image; an image processing part to output component data of the plural printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels; a user interface to specify a condition for converting the component data of the plural printing colors into component data of a multi color in which the special color is added to the plural printing colors; and a conversion part to convert the component data of the plural printing colors from the image processing part into the component data of the multi color to the image forming part based on the condition of the user interface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 14/980,594filed on Dec. 28, 2015, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No.14/662,444 filed on Mar. 19, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,256,817, theentire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to an image formingapparatus, an image forming method and a non-transitory computerreadable recording medium.

BACKGROUND

Hitherto, only four kinds of toners of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y)and black (K) are used in an image forming apparatus for performingcolor printing.

However, when only the four printing colors are used, only colors whichcan be representable by the combination of CMYK can be printed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural view of an image forming apparatus of anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the image formingapparatus of the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit including an image processingpart, a conversion part and a printing part of the image formingapparatus of the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a conversion process into a specialcolor by the image forming apparatus of the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a display example of a user interface of theimage forming apparatus of the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a dialog screen displayed by theuser interface of the image forming apparatus of the embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of a setting method of a set valuethrough the user interface of the image forming apparatus of theembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain embodiments provide an image forming apparatus, including: animage forming part to form an image made of plural pixels by usingplural printing colors and a special color different from the pluralprinting colors; an input part of image data of the image; an imageprocessing part to output component data of the plural printing colorsfrom the image data for each of the pixels; a user interface to specifya condition for converting the component data of the plural printingcolors into component data of a multi color in which the special coloris added to the plural printing colors; and a conversion part to convertthe component data of the plural printing colors from the imageprocessing part into the component data of the multi color to the imageforming part based on the condition of the user interface.

Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method and arecording medium will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. Incidentally, the same components in therespective drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals and aduplicate description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a structural view of an image forming apparatus of anembodiment. The image forming apparatus of the embodiment is an MFP(Multi-Functional Peripheral) 10.

The MFP 10 includes a printing part 15 (image forming part), a scanner13 (input part), a network interface 14, an image processing part 23, anoperation panel 17 (user interface), an S plane generation part 18(conversion part), and a controller 100.

The printing part 15 forms an image made of plural pixels by using fourprinting colors of CMYK and a special color S different from the fourprinting colors.

The special color S is a color which can not be represented by thecombination of CMYK. Toner of the special color S is toner with glosscolor, such as gold, silver or copper, toner with fluorescent color,lame-containing toner, or the like.

Both the scanner 13 and a printer driver 61 of a PC (Personal Computer)26 through the network interface 14 are an input part of image data.

The image processing part 23 outputs component data of the four printingcolors from the image data for each of the pixels.

The component data of the four printing colors are plane data ofrespective CMYK.

The plane data of C is a map in which “1” representing printing of C or“0” representing no printing of C is arranged for all pixels in an imageregion. The plane data of respective MYK are substantially the same asthe plane data of C.

The operation panel 17 specifies a condition for converting thecomponent data of the four printing colors into the component data offive colors (multi color) in which the special color S is added to thefour printing colors.

The component data of the five colors are the plane data of respectiveCMYK and the S plane data. The MFP 10 uses, for example, 1 bit data forthe S plane data.

The S plane generation part 18 converts the component data of the fourprinting colors from the image processing part 23 into the componentdata of the five colors to be sent to the image forming part 23 based onthe condition of the operation panel 17.

The conversion of the component data means also replacement of thecomponent data.

The printing part 15 includes five exposure units 29, image formingparts 31C, 31M, 31Y, 31K and 31S, and a belt 30 commonly used among theimage forming parts 31C, 31M, 31Y, 31K and 31S.

In the exposure units 29, laser beams of semiconductor lasers for therespective colors are modulated by image signals. In the exposure units29, LEDs (light emitting diode) maybe used for the respective colors.The belt 30 runs endlessly in a counterclockwise direction V.

The image forming part 31Y for yellow includes a drum 32, a charger 33,a developing unit 34, and a transfer unit 35.

The drum 32 is a photoconductive drum rotating in a clockwise directionT. The charger 33 charges a surface of the drum 32. The developing unit34 develops an electrostatic latent image on the drum 32 with toner. Thetransfer unit 35 primarily transfers a toner image on the drum 32 ontothe belt 30.

The constitution of the image forming part 31M for magenta, the imageforming part 31C for cyan, the image forming part 31K for black, and theimage forming part 31S for special color are substantially the same asthe configuration of the image forming part 31Y.

The printing part 15 includes corresponding toner cartridgesrespectively connected to the five developing units 34.

Further, the printing part 15 includes a sheet conveying mechanism 36, asecondary transfer unit 37, a fixing unit 38 and a tray 40.

The sheet conveying mechanism 36 pulls up a sheet P from a paper feedingpart 39 and guides the sheet P to the printing part 15.

The secondary transfer unit 37 secondarily transfers four-color tonerimages formed by the image forming parts 31C, 31M, 31Y and 31K onto thesheet P.

The fixing unit 38 fixes the unfixed toner images on the sheet P. Thesheet conveying mechanism 36 ejects the sheet on which the image isfixed onto the tray 40.

The scanner 13 is an input part of image data. The scanner 13 generatesthe image data to be inputted to the S plane generation part 18.

The scanner 13 generates light reception signals of four colors of R(Red), G (Green), B (Blue) and K (Black). The scanner 13 includes adocument feeder 20, an optical system 21 and an image generation part22.

The document feeder 20 conveys a document G onto a glass table 19.

The optical system 21 generates the image data by scanning the documentsurface on the glass table 19. The optical system 21 outputs a K imagesignal, an R image signal, a G image signal and a B image signal to theimage generation part 22 by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor 24.

The optical system 21 includes a light source 43, plural mirrors 52, alens 27, the CCD sensor 24 and the image generation part 22.

Light from the light source 43 is guided to the mirror 52.

The lens 27 gathers the reflected light from the mirror 52 onto the CCDsensor 24. The CCD sensor 24 generates light energy charge byphotoelectric conversion.

The CCD sensor 24 includes photodiode lines of plural lines. Each of thephotodiode lines detects the reflected light in a main scanningdirection in one line. The document G moves in a sub-scanning direction.The CCD sensor 24 stores charge, and then outputs the stored charge. TheCCD sensor 24 continuously outputs the charge amount for one line in thesub-scanning direction.

The image generation part 22 samples the charge amounts for four linesat sampling timing. The image generation part generates digital signalsrepresented by 0 and 1 for respective RGBK. Each of the digital signalsis correlated with position information on the document surface.

The network interface 14 receives print spool data from the PC 26through a network 25. The network interface 14 receives print settingusing the special color S from the PC 26.

The network interface 14 analyzes a drawing command from PDL (PageDescription Language) data included in the print spool data. The drawingcommand includes type information such as a character, a graphic patternand graphics.

The printer driver 61 (input part) corresponding to a multi-functionalfunction of the MFP 10 is installed in the PC 26. The printer driver 61inputs the image data to the S plane generation part 18.

Besides, the image processing part 23 converts the image data of RGBKfrom the scanner 13 into the image data of CMYK (in the followingdescription, the image data of CMYK is sometimes called component dataof four colors), respectively.

The image processing part 23 outputs the component data of the fourcolors by analyzing the PDL data from the network interface 14.

A signal processing device of an LSI (Large Scale Integration) is usedas the image processing part 23.

The operation panel 17 includes plural hardware keys 53 and a window 54.A touch panel may be used as the window 54. In the operation panel 17, akey, a button, an icon and the like may be displayed on the touch panel.

The S plane generation part 18 adds the S plane data to the plane dataof the four lines from the image processing part 23. The S planegeneration part 18 outputs the plane data of five lines. An LSI or anASIC is used as the S plane generation part 18.

The controller 100 is a main controller of the MFP 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the MFP 10. The samereference numerals as those mentioned above denote the same components.

A control system 50 includes the image processing part 23, the operationpanel 17, and the S plane generation part 18 (conversion part).

The image processing part 23 includes a page memory 49 and a page memorycontroller 51. The page memory 49 stores the component data of the fourcolors. The page memory controller 51 adjusts plural accesses to thepage memory 49.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit including the image processingpart 23, the S plane generation part 18 and the printing part 15. Thesame reference numerals as those mentioned above denote the samecomponents.

A circuit 56 flow-controls the image data, edits the image data, andprocesses the image data.

The operation panel 17 sends a set value corresponding to the conversioncondition to the S plane generation part 18.

Specifically, the condition differentiates between types of (A) to (E):

-   -   (A) a pixel having a specific hue represented by CMYK values is        replaced with the special color S;    -   (B) a pixel having a background color positioned in a background        portion in an image is replaced with the special color S;    -   (C) a pixel of black K is replaced with the special color S;    -   (D) a pixel of color represented by CMY is replaced with the        special color S; and    -   (E) a pixel of a previously set character is replaced with the        special color S.

The set value is one point in the color space of CMYK. Alternatively,the set value is a color range in the color space.

In (A), the set value is a CMYK value of the specific hue or a range ofCMYK.

In (B), the set value is a range of CMYK values of the background color.

In (D), the set value is a CMY value or a CMY range.

In (E), the set value is character information such as date, time orWaterMark.

The S plane generation part 18 generates plane data of five lines by therespective set values from the operation panel 17 and the imagegeneration part 22.

The S plane generation part 18 may generate plane data of five lines bythe set values from the printer driver 61 of the PC 26.

The S plane generation part 18 includes a determination part 28. Thedetermination part 28 determines whether a hue pattern represented bythe component data of the four printing colors from the image processingpart 23 coincides with the specific hue pattern previously specified bythe condition for each pixel.

The specific hue pattern (specific color) is a previously determinedcoloring pattern and is represented by, for example, CMYK=0:255:0:0.

With respect to the pixel in which the coincidence is affirmed by thedetermination part 28, the S plane generation part 18 replaces thecomponent data of magenta M among the four printing colors with thecomponent data of the special color S.

The S plane generation part 18 may initially set the component data ofall pixels to the component data of the special color S, and then, mayreplace the component data of the special color S of a pixel includingone of the inputted component data of the four printing colors with theone of the component data of the four printing colors.

The S plane generation part 18 may replace the component data of theblack K from the image processing part 23 with the component data of thespecial color S.

The S plane generation part 18 may replace the component data of colorsrepresented by cyan, magenta and yellow from the image processing part23 with the component data of the special color S.

The S plane generation part 18 may replace the character information inthe image data detected by the image processing part 23 with the specialcolor S.

Besides, in the image forming method of the embodiment, the operationpanel 17 or the printer driver 61 specifies the condition.

The image processing part 23 outputs the component data of the fourprinting colors by scan input or received input for each pixel.

The S plane generation part 18 converts the component data of the fourprinting colors into the component data of the five colors based on thecondition.

The printing part 15 forms an image by using the four printing colorsand the special color S.

When the condition is specified, the component values of cyan, magenta,yellow and black may be respectively specified by the operation panel 17or the printer driver 61.

In the conversion into the component data of the five colors, the Splane generation part 18 may initially set the component data of allpixels to the component data of the special color S, and then, mayreplace the component data of the special color S of a pixel includingone of the inputted component data of the four printing colors with theone of the component data of the four printing colors.

Further, the control system 50 of FIG. 2 includes a bus 40, a storagedevice 12, a scanner interface 41, and a printer interface 42.

The storage device 12 is an HDD (hard disk driver) or an SSD (solidstate drive). The scanner interface 41 interfaces data input and outputbetween the controller 100 and the scanner 13.

The printer interface 42 interfaces data input and output between thecontroller 100 and the print control system 44.

The print control system 44 includes a print engine 45, a sheetconveying mechanism 36, a printing part 15 and a fixing unit 38.

The print engine 45 includes five exposure units 29 (only one exposureunit is shown in the drawing) and a driver circuit 46 for the fiveexposure units 29.

The controller 100 includes a CPU 62, a ROM 63 and a RAM 64.

The CPU 62 generates a copy job by signal input from the operation panel17. The CPU 62 generates a print job by reception of a network printrequest from the network interface 14.

The RAM 64 expands a job management table of an OS (Operating System).

The ROM 63 stores the OS, application software and the like.

The ROM 63 is a non-transitory computer readable recording medium forcausing the CPU 62 to perform following processes: acquiring a conditionfrom the operation panel 17 or the printer driver 61;

-   -   causing the image processing part 23 to output component data of        four printing colors from image data for each pixel;    -   causing the S plane generation part 18 to convert the component        data of the four printing colors into component data of multi        color based on the condition; and    -   causing the image forming parts 31Y to 31S to form an image by        using the four printing colors and the special color S.

The MFP 10 may include an external interface 47 and a FAX apparatus 65.

The external interface 47 inputs and outputs data between the controller100 and, for example, a USB (universal Serial bus) memory 48.

The FAX apparatus 65 FAX-transmits a scanner output and transmitsFAX-received image data by mail.

Next, an operation of the MFP 10 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a conversion process into thespecial color S performed by the MFP 10.

In a normal process, first, the document G is set on the document feeder20. A copy start key is selected.

At ACT 1, a condition is set through the operation panel 17.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a display example of the window 54 of theoperation panel 17. “No” is assumed to be selected by a user operation.

At ACT A1 of FIG. 4, the operation panel 17 notifies the S planegeneration part 18 of printing without using the special color S.

At ACT A2, the MFP 10 generates print data.

At ACT A3, the image processing part 23 performs image processing.

The image processing part 23 may perform compression and expansion, andimage processing, such as shading correction, gradation correction,inter-line correction, resolution conversion, brightness adjustment,contrast ratio adjustment, saturation adjustment and sharpnessadjustment, to image data of CMYK.

At ACT A4, the S plane generation part 18 determines the necessity ofgenerating S plane data.

At ACT A4, the determination part 28 determines that the S planegeneration part 18 is not required to generate the S plane data byreading of the set value from the operation panel 17.

The S plane generation part 18 transfers the image data to the printingpart 15 at ACT A6 through a route denoted by (IV) at ACT A4.

At ACT A7, the printing part 15 prints and outputs.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printing part 15 forms electrostatic latentimages of four colors on the corresponding drums 32. The printing part15 develops the electrostatic latent images of the four colors with thecorresponding toners.

The image forming parts 31C, 31M, 31Y and 31K transfer the correspondingtoner images to the belt 30.

The printing part 15 forms the toner images of the single colors on thebelt 30 in order from upstream to downstream in the counter clockwisedirection V of the belt 30.

The secondary transfer unit 37 transfers the toner images of the fourcolors onto the sheet P. The fixing unit 38 fixes the toner images ofthe four colors on the sheet P.

The above is the description of the example in which the special color Sis not used.

Hereinafter, an example using the special color S will be described.

(A) An Example in Which a Specific Hue is Replaced with the SpecialColor S

In network printing, at ACT Al of FIG. 4, the PC 26 opens a documentfile by application software.

When an icon for printing the document file is selected in the PC 26,the PC 26 starts the printer driver 61.

In the example of FIG. 5, “Yes” is assumed to be selected by a useroperation.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a dialog screen displayed by theprinter driver 61 (user interface). The printer driver 61 causes adisplay 55 to display the dialog screen. One of condition icons isselected.

FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of a setting method of a set valueby the printer driver 61. Numerical values of a specific hue or a colorrange are set by the user operation.

The printer driver 61 notifies the MFP 10 that the condition ofreplacing the specific hue with the special color S is selected by theuser operation.

At ACT A1 of FIG. 4, the printer driver 61 generates print spool data.The printer driver 61 may cause the PC 26 to display a preview afterapplication of the special color S. The PC 26 may select the conditionbefore the generation of the print spool data.

Continuously, at ACT A2, the MFP 10 generates the component data of thefour colors.

At ACT A2, the image processing part 23 generates image data byanalyzing PDL data from the print spool data from the network interface14. The image processing part 23 writes the component data of the fourcolors in the page memory 49 from the image data.

At ACT A3, the image processing part 23 performs image processing.

At ACT A4, the determination part 28 determines that the S planegeneration part 18 is required to generate the S plane data.

The S plane generation part 18 generates the S plane data at ACT A8through a route denoted by (I) at ACT A4.

In more detail, in FIG. 3, the image processing part 23 and the S planegeneration part 18 share a condition that the specific hue (for example,CMYK=0:255:0:0) is used as an assigned value (special color use area).

The plane data of the four lines flow from the image processing part 23to the S plane generation part 18 with respect to all pixels.

The S plane generation part 18 monitors a set of values of the planedata of the four lines.

At ACT A8 of FIG. 4, the S plane generation part 18 detects the value ofCMYK=0:255:0:0. At ACT A8, the S plane generation part 18 adds the Splane data to the respective plane data of CMYK.

At ACT A6, the S plane generation part 18 sends the plane data of thefive lines to the printing part 15.

Specifically, in FIG. 3, the S plane generation part 18 analyzes thestream of the plane data of the five lines.

The S plane generation part 18 adds “1” to the value of the S plane databy detection of the plane data coincident with the set value or thethreshold from the operation panel 17.

The S plane generation part 18 sets values of a relevant place of thedata stream of the analysis origin to “0”. The relevant place indicatesfour color components at a time point.

At ACT A7 of FIG. 4, the printing part 15 prints plural pixels in acolor range by using toner of the special color S instead of printingwith CMYK.

The color range indicates a hue range having values from a firstthreshold to a second threshold in the color space represented by theCMYK values.

The plural pixels include the pixel where the value of 0:255:0:0 isdetected and the pixel in the color range having the value of 0:255:0:0as one threshold.

The printing part 15 prints the plural pixels, in which the values ofthe S plane data are “1”, with the special color S.

At ACT 7, with respect to the pixel printed with the special color S,the exposure unit 29 (FIG. 1) exposes the drum 32 of the image formingpart 31S.

The printing part 15 drives the image forming parts 31C, 31M, 31Y, 31Kand 31S. The printing part 15 performs print output using the tonerimage in which mapping is performed from the specific hue to the specialcolor S.

In addition to printing of one pixel, the plural pixels including theone pixel are converted into the special color S. The effect of thespecial color S can be visually confirmed.

Printing using the special color S instead of the specific hue becomespossible.

The image data for printing to the S plane generation part 18 isdesirably data after image processing such as filtering or masking isperformed.

An example in which the special color S is set from the operation panel17 is substantially the same as the example of the printer driver 61.The set value or the threshold may be set by the operation panel 17.

According to the image forming apparatus of the embodiment, in additionto the toners of CMYK, the toner of the special color S is newly addedas the fifth color and printing can be performed.

For example, printing using gloss color, such as gold, silver or copper,fluorescent color, or lame-containing toner becomes possible.

(B) Example in Which the Background Color is Replaced with the SpecialColor

An image is assumed to include a person and a background.

The printer driver 61 sets a condition, in which the background color ofthe background portion of the image is replaced with the special colorS, in the S plane generation part 18 (FIG. 6).

The MFP 10 determines the necessity of generating the S plane data underthe condition in which the background color of the image is replacedwith the special color (ACT A1 to ACT A4 of FIG. 3).

At ACT A4, when the S plane generation part 18 determines that thereplacement is necessary, the S plane generation part 18 once sets theinitial value of the S plane data to “1” through the route (I) at ACTA8.

The component data of all pixels are initially set to the component dataof the special color S.

At ACT A8, the S plane generation part 18 analyzes the stream of theplane data of the four lines and rewrites the value of the S plane dataof the plane data of a line including a value among the four lines ofCMYK to “0”.

That is, with respect to the pixel in which the plane data value isdetected, the component data of the special color S is returned to thecomponent data of the four printing colors.

The S plane generation part 18 sends the plane data of the five lines tothe printing part 15 (ACT A6). The printing part 15 prints and outputs(ACT A7).

An operation of replacing the background color with the special color ina copy job is substantially the same as that of the example of theprinter driver 61.

The background portion of the image is changed into the special color Sinstead of the background color.

In the copy job and the network print job, the special color S is usedas the background color, and printing becomes possible.

(C) Example in Which Black K is Replaced with the Special Color S

The printer driver 61 notifies the S plane generation part 18 of theselection result that black K is replaced with the special color S (FIG.6).

The MFP 10 determines the necessity of generating the S plane data underthe condition in which black K is replaced with the special color S (ACTA1 to ACT A4, FIG. 6).

When the S plane generation part 18 determines that the generation isnecessary (route (II) of ACT A4), the S plane generation part 18replaces the K plane data with the S plane data (ACT A9).

At ACT A9, the S plane generation part 18 analyzes the stream of planedata of black and sets the value of the S plane data of a pixelcorresponding to the K plane data including a value to “1”.

The S plane generation part 18 sends the plane data of the respectivelines to the printing part 15 (ACT A6). The printing part 15 prints andoutputs without using the image forming part 31K of black (ACT A7).

An operation of replacing black K with the special color S in a copy jobis substantially the same as that of the example of the printer driver61.

The K plane data is not printed in the printing in which black isreplaced. The printing using the special color S without black becomespossible.

For example, light and shade represented by black can be represented bygold color. A portion represented by thin gray can be represented bythin gold.

(D) Example in Which Color Represented by CMY is Replaced with theSpecial Color S

The printer driver 61 sets a condition, in which a color component isreplaced with the special color S, in the S plane generation part 18(FIGS. 6 and 7).

The MFP 10 determines the necessity of generating S plane data under thecondition in which the color represented by CMY is replaced with thespecial color S (ACT A1 to ACT A4, FIG. 6).

When the S plane generation part 18 determines that the replacement isnecessary (route (III) of ACT A4), the S plane generation part 18replaces C plane data, M plane data and Y plane data corresponding tothe color component with the S plane data (ACT A10).

At ACT A10, the S plane generation part 18 analyzes the stream of theplane data of the four lines and monitors the respective plane data ofCMY among CMYK.

The S plane generation part 18 sets the value of the S plane data of apixel corresponding to plane data including a value among the C planedata, the M plane data and the Y plane data to “1”.

The S plane generation part 18 sends the plane data of the respectivelines to the printing part 15 (ACT A6). The printing part 15 prints andoutputs without using the image forming parts 31C, 31M and 31Y (ACT A7).

An operation of replacing color with the special color S in a copy jobis substantially the same as that of the example of the printer driver61.

Under the condition in which the color component is replaced, therespective plane data of CMY are not printed. The printing in which thecolor component is replaced with the special color S becomes possible.

A mono-color image of only black K and the special color S is obtained.

An inputted pixel includes the respective components of CMY. The valuesof the respective components are inherited to the special color S.

The gradation and hue of the inputted color image is held by themono-color image.

(E) Example in Which a Character is Replaced with the Special Color S

In the above (A) to (D), a character may be replaced with the specialcolor S.

The printer driver 61 notifies the S plane generation part 18 of acharacter type before execution of a network print job (FIG. 6).

The image processing part 23 inserts, for example, web site address,network ID (identification), date, time, WaterMark and the like into theimage data for printing.

The printing part 15 prints an image by the image forming parts 31C,31M, 31Y and 31K. The image forming part 31S forms a latent image on thedrum 32 by S plane data indicating a character string.

Also with respect to a character added to the image data in the MFP 10,the special color S can be selected.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus of the embodiment,the image forming part 31S is added and the special color S (additioncolor) can be printed.

The dedicated color plane (color bit map) represented by the five colorscan be printed.

Besides, the color plane can be generated in accordance with thecondition from the print image. The color plane can be generated fromthe component of the specific hue specified by the user or the colorcomponent represented by CMY.

(F) Modified Example

The above embodiment is the example of the copy job and the networkprint job.

The MFP 10 can generate the color plane similarly to the copy job alsoin a scanner job in which scanned image data is stored in a remoteserver.

The MFP 10 can store an image file using the special color S in theserver by setting a condition for the scanned image data.

The MFP 10 may display a file from the USB memory 48 on the operationpanel 17. The MFP 10 may generate an image file using the special colorS from image data of the file by setting a condition in the operationpanel 17.

The MFP 10 may store an image file in the USB memory 48. The MFP 10 maystore a file, which includes image data in which a color plane isgenerated, in the server or the storage device 12.

The MFP 10 may mail an image file using the special color S.

In a FAX transmission job of scanned image data, the MFP 10 may generatea color plane using the special color S.

The MFP 10 may store, as a FAX transmission file, an image filegenerated by using the special color S in the storage device 12.

In the above embodiment, with respect to the component value patternCMYK=0:255:0:0, magenta M is replaced with the special color S. The(CMYK) values of a specific hue pattern can be variously set, and asingle color different from magenta M may be replaced with the specialcolor S.

In the above embodiment, the examples of FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7 can bevariously modified.

The determination part 28 has also a function to detect an arbitrarycomponent pattern of CMYK.

The computer readable recording medium is for causing the CPU to performthe respective processes, and the recording medium may be a USB memory,a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM.

The superiority of the image forming apparatus, the image forming methodand the recording medium of the embodiment is not impaired in embodiedproducts of these modifications.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems describedherein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore variousomissions and substitutions and changes in the form of methods andsystems described herein may be made without departing from the spiritof the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents areintended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within thescope and spirits of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming part to form an image made of a plurality of pixels by using a plurality of printing colors and a special color different from the plurality of printing colors; and a conversion part to output component data of the plurality of printing colors from input image data of the image for each of the pixels, the conversion part converting the component data of the plurality of printing colors into the component data of a multi color in which the special color is added to the plurality of printing colors to the image forming part, based on a user-specified condition for converting the component data of the plurality of printing colors into the component data of the multi color.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a processor for executing instructions to perform operations, the processor comprising: a determination part to determine whether a first hue pattern represented by the component data of the plurality of printing colors is coincident with a specific second hue pattern previously specified by the condition for each of the pixels; wherein the conversion part replaces the component data of the plurality of printing colors with the component data of the special color for the pixel in which coincidence is affirmed by the determination part.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversion part initially sets the component data of all the pixels to the component data of the special color, and then, replaces the component data of the special color of the pixel including one of the inputted component data of the plurality of printing colors with the one of the component data of the plurality of printing colors.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an image processing part to output the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the conversion part replaces the component data of black from the image forming part with the component data of the special color.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an image processing part to output the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the conversion part replaces the component data of cyan, magenta and yellow respectively including values from the image processing part with the component data of the special color.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an image processing part to output the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the conversion part replaces character information in the image data detected by the image processing part with the special color.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specifying of the condition is performed by an operation panel or a printer driver of a personal computer.
 8. An image forming method comprising: outputting component data of a plurality of printing colors by input of image data of an image made of a plurality of pixels for each of the pixels to convert the component data of the plurality of printing colors into component data of a multi color in which a special color is added to the plurality of printing colors to the image forming part, based on a user-specified condition for converting the component data of the plurality of printing colors into the component data of the multi color; and forming the image by using the plurality of printing colors and the special color.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising; determining, by a processor for executing instructions to perform operations, whether a first hue pattern represented by the component data of the plurality of printing colors is coincident with a specific second hue pattern previously specified by the condition for each of the pixels, wherein the converting comprises replacing the component data of the plurality of printing colors with the component data of the special color for the pixel in which coincidence is affirmed by the determining.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: before the converting, setting the component data of all the pixels to the component data of the special color; wherein the converting comprises replacing the component data of the special color of the pixel including one of the inputted component data of the plurality of printing colors with the one of the component data of the plurality of printing colors.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: before the converting, outputting the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the converting comprises replacing the component data of black from the image forming part with the component data of the special color.
 12. The method of claim 8, further comprising: before the converting, outputting the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the converting comprises replacing the component data of cyan, magenta and yellow respectively including values from the image processing part with the component data of the special color.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: before the converting, outputting the component data of the plurality of printing colors from the image data for each of the pixels, wherein the converting comprises replacing character information in the image data detected by the image processing part with the special color.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the specifying of the condition is performed by an operation panel or a printer driver of a personal computer.
 15. An image forming method comprising: converting first hue information which constitutes input image data into second hue information in which special hue information different from the first hue information is added to the first hue information; and forming an image of the image data according to the second hue information.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the converting is performed based on a predefined condition.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the condition is conditioned upon if the first hue information is coincident with predefined information.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first hue information is a component value of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the converting comprises determining whether or not to execute the converting to respective pixels which constitute the image data.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the converting comprises specifying respective component values of cyan, magenta, yellow and black by an operation panel or a printer driver of a personal computer. 